A Tennessee renter who thought she had finally found stable footing in a mobile home community instead opened her mail to find a stunning 70% jump in lot rent after a new investor bought the park. Her experience captures how a form of housing long marketed as the affordable edge of the American dream is colliding with aggressive ownership models and a legal landscape that offers residents few protections.
Her story is not an isolated billing dispute but a window into a national shift. Over 22 million Americans now live in mobile homes, and as more outside capital flows into these parks, the balance of power between residents and landlords is tilting in ways that can turn a modest rent bill into an existential threat.
The Tennessee shock: a 70% jump and a silent landlord
The Tennessee woman at the center of this case lives in a mobile home park where she owns her home but rents the land beneath it, a structure that leaves her vulnerable when the park changes hands. After a new investor took over the community, she received notice that her monthly lot rent would rise by 70%, a spike that would blow up any careful household budget. Reporting on the case describes the new owner as effectively incommunicado, with the tenant unable to get anyone on the phone to explain the math or negotiate terms, even as she disputes being labeled late on prior payments. The lack of a human response is as destabilizing as the number on the page, because it signals that decisions about her housing are being made far away from the people who live with the consequences.
County records show that the park is part of a cluster of properties in Blount County that recently changed hands. In that area, County documents identify Volunteer Runway Communities as the buyer of three mobile home parks in Blount County, a sign that this is not a one-off mom and pop purchase but part of a larger portfolio strategy. Since the new owner stepped in, residents describe a pattern of steep increases and thin communication, a combination that leaves people like this Tennessee renter scrambling to understand not only what they owe but who, exactly, is calling the shots.
Inside the Louisville lot where Russell’s bill exploded
The Tennessee case echoes another jarring increase in the same region, where Russell, a hairstylist, has lived in a mobile home community in Louisville for nearly 13 years. She owns her home outright and pays only for the lot, a model that should, in theory, keep her monthly costs predictable. Instead, she opened her latest statement to find that her lot rent would also jump by 70%, a figure that would be eye catching in any market, let alone in a small Tennessee town. Russell told investigators that she has tried repeatedly to reach someone in charge to talk about the increase and the late-fee claims attached to her account, but she has received no meaningful response…